


An Inevitable Outcome

by caxandra



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Dark Obi-Wan Kenobi, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sith Anakin Skywalker, Sith Obi-Wan Kenobi, padme and anakin just friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:01:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26687827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caxandra/pseuds/caxandra
Summary: In every universe, Anakin’s Fall is an inevitable outcome.But his happiness is only an inevitable outcome if Obi-Wan Falls as well.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Vader
Comments: 8
Kudos: 178





	An Inevitable Outcome

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work of fanfiction. Hopefully you enjoy it. <333
> 
> Also, Anakin is sent to Utapau instead of Obi-Wan. You’ll see why.

As Anakin stands over Grievous’s blaster bullet-ridden body, Anakin feels his comm go off. He picks up. Palpatine answers.

“Anakin, my boy, you must leave Utapau immediately. I have just foiled a Jedi assassination attempt, led by Master Windu. This coup against the republic cannot be ignored. I have also received alarming news that Obi-Wan is supposedly the Sith Lord the Jedi have been searching for. Some senators told me they last saw him marching on the Jedi Temple with the 212th.”

Anakin interrupts, “No. Chancellor, I don’t believe it. That is impossible! Obi-Wan is the best Jedi I know. They must have seen someone else and mistaken them for Obi-Wan.”

Palpatine’s gravelly voice cracks to life over the comm, “I’m sorry I cannot provide you with more information as of now. I pray this is not true, but we must act if the worst case scenario is true. Anakin, I have a stealth mission for you. The Jedi Council already approved this decision. I just received intel that a large squadron of Separatist reinforcements will quickly blockade the system. This whole region of the Outer Rim is occupied by Separatists, but I have coordinates to a Republic-controlled area I’m sending you right now.” 

Anakin is furious. He knows this cannot be true! But he feels bad for his irritation at the Chancellor, who is clearly only trying to help him, so he holds his tongue and politely responds, “Yes, of course, Chancellor.” 

Anakin makes up his mind. He must travel back to Coruscant and prove Obi-Wan’s innocence and protect his safety, since he was in the temple when Anakin last saw him on Coruscant.

Anakin comms Rex and says, “The Chancellor requested me to go alone to the coordinates I’m sending you right now on a stealth mission. I’ll comm you again once I arrive. Got it, Commander?”

Rex replies, “Yes, General Skywalker. Stay safe.”

—

Having safely entered hyperspace, Anakin finally has enough time to concentrate on his connection to the Force. The Force feels bleaker than usual and the dark malevolent presence of the Dark Side is even more prominent than anything he’s ever felt. He can almost visibly taste the sickly-sweet darkness on his tongue. He scrunches his brow, searching harder for the countless Jedi force presences that should be little beacons of light shining in the vast canvas of space. But he only sees a sparse smattering of star-like pinpricks of light, with many extinguishing as he watches. He realizes with sudden clarity and dawning horror that the Force feels so empty because the Jedi are gone, already one with the Force or soon to be so. 

Worst of all, Anakin can’t feel his master in the force. He wants to hope his master didn’t turn to the Dark Side or die. He wants to hope that the Jedi’s lack of presence in the Force is just some freaky phenomenon. But when has anything he ever hoped for come true?

His comm beeps, snapping him out his depressing thoughts. 

When he answers, he is greeted by a holocomm showcasing a worn-down Bail Organa and grave Master Yoda, who looks to have aged a century since Anakin last saw him. Master Yoda’s ears droop as he says, “Meet us at the Senate, you must. The Dark Side, now blankets the Force, it does. What transpired know, you must, but unsafe over holocomm to speak, it is.”

Anakin’s heart sinks and he bows his head, overwhelmed by the reality of the situation finally setting in. “I understand, Master Yoda. I will meet you there at the Senate.”

His unease only grows as he thinks to himself, something is terribly wrong for Master Yoda to contact me like this.

—

Sneaking into the Temple with Master Yoda, Anakin feels the icy pit of dread in his stomach grow with every clone he avoids or mind-tricks. Staring down at the dead Jedi Masters, Knights, and younglings, Anakin feels horror and grief overcome him. He tries his best to release his jumbled feelings to the Force, but even then, he still feels like he’s been thoroughly trampled by a herd of banthas. 

“Not even the younglings survived,” Anakin speaks in a somber, hushed tone. A subdued Master Yoda bows his head in sorrow. “Killed not by clones, this Padawan. By a lightsaber, he was.” 

A new wave of grief overcomes Anakin, and he slowly crouches down to look at Master Yoda in his wizened eyes. Anakin feels like throwing up. 

Anguish permeates his words. “Who? Who could have done this?” Palpatine’s words slither through his ears, but he blocks it out, unwilling to even fathom his former master Obi-Wan as being capable of such a thing.

He receives his answer in the Main Control Center.  
\---

Anakin approaches the holograms and hesitantly asks, “Wait, Master. There is something I must know…” He walks toward the holograms, determined to prove everyone wrong that Obi-Wan did not, could not ever commit such a crime. 

Master Yoda warns him, “If into the security recordings you go, only pain will you find.” 

Anakin replies while his hope that Obi-Wan is not the Sith Lord dwindles. “I must know the truth, Master.”

As he watches the hologram of Obi-Wan slaughtering Jedi indiscriminately, including the younglings, Anakin’s world shatters. He distantly recalls shaking his head and whispering over and over, “It can’t be…” 

Tears well up in Anakin’s eyes and progressively blur his vision as he watches Obi-Wan kneel before Darth Sidious and for Sidious to refer to Obi-Wan as Lord Fallax, his apprentice. His hand trembles as he turns off the hologram. 

“I can’t watch any more.” Anakin whispers. The ease at which they speak to each other speaks volumes of the familiarity between the two and makes Anakin wonder if he ever even knew Obi-Wan Kenobi, or just the facade of a Jedi Master Darth Fallax portrayed. His mind screams anger, betrayal, grief, sadness, sorrow, fury, anguish at him. 

If the world was shattered when Obi-Wan massacred the younglings, those shards split into a million tiny pieces, too tiny to be repaired when Obi-Wan was revealed to be one of the Sith Lords the Jedi were looking for all along.

“Destroy the Sith, we must.” Yoda says decisively.

“Send me to kill the Emperor. I will not kill Obi-Wan.” Anakin pleads.

Master Yoda’s all-knowing eyes pierce into his soul as he speaks, “To fight this Lord Sidious, strong enough, you are not.”

Anakin closes his eyes, and the bitter truth that Master Yoda is right rolls through him and strikes deep in his psyche. Anakin stares back, anguish marring his features as he cries out, “He is like my brother! I cannot do it.”

Master Yoda’s penetrating stare burrows deeper into his psyche. “Twisted by the dark side, Master Kenobi has become. The man who trained you, gone he is… Consumed by Darth Fallax.”

Anakin beseeches, “I do not know where the Emperor has sent him. I don’t know where to look!”

Master Yoda turns to glance at him one last time and replies, “Use your feelings, Anakin, and find him, you will. Visit the new Emperor, my task is. Our last hope, you are. If you fall to the Dark Side, doomed the galaxy is. May the Force be with you, Master Skywalker.”

Anakin gazes at Master Yoda’s retreating figure and takes his words to heart. He vows to himself, he will not fall to the Dark Side. “May the Force be with you, Master Yoda.”

Anakin is determined not to kill Obi-Wan. He can’t! He won’t! He’d rather die himself before killing Obi-Wan. He’ll figure something out, something that can save both of them. Yes, a better plan, he decides, is to turn Obi-Wan back to the Light.

Concentrating on the vestiges of the Master-Padawan bond Obi-Wan and he share, Anakin grimaces at how it is twisted beyond recognition. He guesses it was so distorted he didn’t realize it still remained, but he still is able to follow the bond through the Force to a pinprick of darkness that he knows must be Obi-Wan.

\----- 

Exiting the cruiser, Anakin can’t help but stare at Obi-Wan, his face wreathed in the dim red glow of Mustafar.

Anakin steels his resolve for the plan: return Obi-Wan to the Light or die trying.

From here, he can feel Obi-Wan’s dark force presence, twisted and tainted beyond definition. The Dark Side clings to his aura, with tendrils of inky darkness coiling and snapping at Anakin. 

Anakin takes a few steps forwards, keeping his hands in front of him, and stops a few feet away from Obi-Wan. Up closer, Anakin can see that Obi-Wan’s eyes are an unearthly golden hue. 

“Obi-Wan?” He says nervously. He doesn’t know what to expect from him. He’s sure his face is the picture of agony caused by betrayal. 

Obi-Wan twists the corners of his mouth in a sardonic smile. “Have you come to kill me, Anakin?”

Anakin’s face falls further. He stares imploringly at Obi-Wan. “No, no, of course not! You’re my Master, Obi-Wan, I could never kill you. I would rather die myself before killing you.” He pleads earnestly.

“Then what were you going to do, former Padawan mine?”

Anakin feels his ears burn up with embarrassment. Standing here on Mustafar, he feels stripped naked by the gold gaze of Obi-Wan. “I was going to… turn you back to the Light.” He is aware of how ridiculous he sounds, and flushes redder than the atmosphere.

Obi-Wan shakes his head fondly and tuts. “Always so impulsive, Anakin. You did never plan, after all.” 

Anakin feels indignant sparks stir up heat in his belly. “Enough of that!” He snaps. 

“How could you do such things? You were the perfect Jedi!” He screams, pouring his conflicting emotions of sadness grief anger agony torment heartbreak into his cries, intent to make Obi-Wan feel.

“Control yourself, Padawan.” Obi-Wan snaps.

Anakin reddens and glares angrily, almost sulkily at Obi-Wan.

His master's crooning voice tells him, “Let me tell you a story about myself. A young padawan aged twenty-five watched his master get cut in half by a Sith Lord. This furious and grieving padawan then touched the Dark Side and Fell to defeat Darth Maul. This padawan met Darth Sidious, who told him the Council was to blame for Qui-Gon’s death. After all, who sent Master Qui-Gon back to Naboo without more Jedi reinforcements? This padawan saw that the Jedi around him just continued life as normal as could be, as if Qui-Gon’s death didn’t even occur. This padawan saw that no one mourned him, no one grieved him, and only he did. This padawan asked the Council about his feelings of grief and anger and Master Yoda told him not to mourn or miss him, but to rejoice since Qui-Gon became one with the Force. This padawan fell deeper and deeper into the Dark Side and learned how to hide his true self while acting the perfect Jedi Master in public, until he could shed his disguise.”

Anakin shakes his head frantically and stumbles backwards, moving toward the cruiser in case he needs to escape quickly. He can’t believe that Obi-Wan would lie like that to him and keep it a secret for as long as he’d known Obi-Wan. 

“I thought I was the closest person to you, someone you could always tell the truth, but I guess I never knew you. I guess you never trusted me enough to tell the truth.” He sobs openly, tears streaming down his face while he futilely tries his best to avoid looking at Obi-Wan.

It kriffing hurts him to realize this. Anakin can’t stop the hysterics from overwhelming him, and he gasps out between uneven and labored breaths, “The worst thing is, I don’t think I would have told the Council if you told me you were a Sith Lord, Obi-Wan! I wouldn’t have. I would have done anything for you. Anything at all… All you had to do was ask!” 

He hiccups and falls to his knees. He can’t stand that Obi-Wan dropped his shields and projects his regret deep through the Force. It tells Anakin what Obi-Wan isn’t saying verbally: that he is so sorry for lying to him, that he’ll never do anything like that ever again. 

Through tear-stained eyes, he glimpses Obi-Wan approach him and lay a hand on his shoulder. He stiffens momentarily before his body betrays him, as he relaxes and leans into his master’s hand. Anakin clings unwillingly, hating how he is so weak. 

He listens to Obi-Wan’s soothing voice as he says, “Oh Padawan, I know you wouldn’t have told them about me. However, I could not tell you since the Council would have known you were lying. But believe me, how it hurt me to keep such a thing from you! I will never do something like that again, Anakin. I promise you.” Obi-Wan’s sincerity rings in the Force. 

Anakin glances up, not daring to allow himself to believe that Obi-Wan is speaking the truth, shakes his head weakly and whimpers, “But I still feel so betrayed and sad and angry, master. I want to believe you won’t ever lie to me again, not like that, but I don’t know what to think anymore. You hurt me! And you killed so many Jedi! I don’t know what to believe in anymore!”

Obi-Wan cups his chin and wipes the slowly drying tears from Anakin’s face. He forces Anakin to look him in his golden Sith eyes. 

“It was not my idea, but my master’s. I did not fully agree with it, but I did as he ordered.” He sighs, seeming mostly indifferent to the reality of what he admitted to doing.

Obi-Wan fixes Anakin with an intense gaze and states seriously, “Anakin, you must know that my Master Lord Sidious is Palpatine.”

For Anakin’s already shattered reality, it feels like he’s been dumped in a Hellish alternate universe of his world.

“No. No. That’s not true! That’s impossible!” Anakin cries out, shaken to the core. He shrugs off Obi-Wan’s thumb caressing his cheek and curls in on himself, quivering as he hugs his hands around his knees.

“Search your feelings. You know it to be true.” Obi-Wan says in that soft, deadly and oh-so-understanding voice of his.

Anakin feels himself drowning in the utter truth of it all. “No, no, no!”

Obi-Wan snarls, seemingly fed up with his denial. “Why do you think I disliked your friendship with the Chancellor? I was trying to keep you safe.”

“Safe? SAFE?” Anakin screeches hysterically. Anakin hatefully glares back at Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan, completely consumed by his passion and frenzy, doesn’t notice the way his crazed eyes pierce into Anakin as he fervently yells, “Yes, safe, Anakin! He wanted to replace me with you as his new apprentice! What could possibly be the reason why the most important man in the galaxy would befriend a young Jedi padawan? He groomed you from the start, Anakin. I tried my best to keep you away from him but he had already wormed his way into your good graces, and I knew I couldn’t do anything about it if I didn’t want to widen the distance between us.”

Anakin doesn’t want to believe Obi-Wan. He shakes his head frantically and furiously.

Roaring “Don’t touch me! YOU’RE LYING!” he struggles to wrench free of Obi-Wan’s tightening grip on his arm. 

Obi-Wan sneers down at him and slaps him across the face. Anakin gapes stupidly back at him. His cheeks blush as the sting from the slap stuns him into silent obedience.

“Listen to me, Anakin. You can destroy the Emperor. He has foreseen this. It is your destiny. Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as master and apprentice. Come with me! It is the only way.” Obi-Wan speaks in a possessed manner.

Obi-Wan lets go of his ironclad grip on Anakin’s arm and imploringly extends a hand out to him.

Anakin hesitantly raises his head to study Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan who has golden eyes that remind Anakin of the gleaming yellow leaves in Naboo’s autumn season, twin-sunned sunsets of Tatooine, and rare marigolds in the Jedi Temple Meditation Gardens if one searches hard enough. Obi-Wan who gazes at Anakin intently like he’s the center of his world, like he’s the only thing that matters in the universe. 

And Anakin believes that gaze. He believes that Obi-Wan will do anything and everything for him. 

Before he jumps into the deep end, he asks one last question. “Will Falling hurt?” 

Obi-Wan shakes his head and chuckles. “Falling is the easiest thing you will ever experience, believe me, dear Padawan.”

Anakin is tired, so tired. He bites his lip and knits his brows. Honestly, he just wants all of this to be over already. 

So, Anakin clasps the outstretched hand and allows himself to be pulled up into Obi-Wan’s tight hug. With the bond blown wide open, he experiences Obi-Wan’s feelings of relief, intense joy, and possessive pride that Anakin is finally his as keenly as if they were his own emotions. 

Obi-Wan rubs soothing circles on his back and commands, “Pledge your allegiance to me as your master.”

Anakin kneels before Obi-Wan. “I pledge myself to your teachings. To the ways of the Sith.”

He looks up and catches Obi-Wan’s gaze, fierce joy and pervasive want eminent in his molten eyes. 

And caught up in the whirlwind of emotions emanating from Obi-Wan, Anakin finally feels brave enough to voice his deepest, most shameful secret. 

“I love you, Obi-Wan.”

“Darth Fallax. Call me Darth Fallax.” Obi-Wan orders.

Anakin exhales a shaky breath. 

“I love you, Darth Fallax.”

In one fell swoop, Darth Fallax lifts Anakin up to pin him against the cruiser and tightens his arms around his waist. 

Fallax huskily whispers, lips brushing Anakin’s earlobe, “Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth Vader.”

And Lord Fallax rears his head back to engulf Vader’s lips in a dominating kiss. 

“I love you too, Darth Vader.” Fallax murmurs.

Vader shudders and loses himself in the utter blissfulness of being accepted and loved back by Obi-Wan, Darth Fallax. Finally what he dreamt of for so long is coming true. 

Vader presses their foreheads together and staring into Obi-Wan’s eyes, he finally notices his reflection in Obi-Wan’s eyes staring back at him. He notices a pair of eyes the color of Mustafar’s lava river staring back at him. 

He kisses Fallax back and loses himself in the intertwined tangle of their bodies.

He can’t tell if it’s his own or Fallax’s thought that this was always an inevitable outcome.

\---

Later, when Vader stares at the decapitated corpse of Sidious, Vader finally agrees with Fallax that Falling is the easiest thing he’s ever experienced.

Especially when he kneels to see Darth Fallax seated atop Sidious’s throne.

“Rise, Lord Vader.” Fallax purrs, wicked contentment saturating his tone.

Vader rises.

“The Emperor is dead, long live the Emperor!” He proclaims.

\--

In every universe, Anakin’s Fall is an inevitable outcome.

But his happiness is only an inevitable outcome if Obi-Wan Falls as well.

**Author's Note:**

> I chose Obi-Wan’s Sith name to be Darth Fallax because Fallax means deceptive/deceitful in Latin and I thought that would perfectly describe of Obi-Wan here.


End file.
